2013 FRYS.com Open Discussion Thread - 2014 PGA Tour begins!

[Crim]

Unlike last season...this FRYS.com open gives the winner 500 Fed Ex Points.

2013 Frys.com Open Player Field as of October 5, 2013
Adams, Blake Allenby, Robert Ames, Stephen Appleby, Stuart Baddeley, Aaron Baird, Briny Barnes, Ricky Beckman, Cameron Beljan, Charlie Blixt, Jonas Bohn, Jason Bowditch, Steven Brown, Scott Byrd, Jonathan Cabrera, Angel Campbell, Chad Carr, David Cauley, Bud Chappell, Kevin Cink, Stewart Clark, Tim Claxton, Will Coceres, Jose Collins, Chad Compton, Erik Crane, Ben Curtis, Ben Davis, Brian Driscoll, James Ernst, Derek Fritsch, Brad Funk, Fred Gainey, Tommy Gardiner, Scott Garnett, Brice Garrigus, Robert Gay, Brian Glover, Lucas Gonzales, Andres Goosen, Retief Goydos, Paul Guthrie, Luke Hadley, Chesson	Hahn, James Harman, Brian Hearn, David Henry, J.J. Herman, Jim Hicks, Justin Hoffmann, Morgan Homa, Max Horschel, Billy Howell III, Charles Hurley III, Billy Huh, John Immelman, Trevor Ishikawa, Ryo Jacobson, Freddie Kelly, Jerry Kisner, Kevin Knox, Russell Koepka, Brooks Kokrak, Jason Langley, Scott Lee, Danny Leishman, Marc Leonard, Justin Levin, Spencer Loar, Edward Loupe, Andrew Love III, Davis Lovemark, Jamie MacKenzie, Will Maggert, Jeff Malnati, Peter Marino, Steve Martin, Ben Matsuyama, Hideki Matteson, Troy McGirt, William McNeill, George Mediate, Rocco Merrick, John Merritt, Troy Molder, Bryce Na, Kevin	Noh, Seung-Yul Ogilvy, Geoff O’Hair, Sean Overton, Jeff Perez, Pat Peterson, John Pettersson, Carl Potter Jr., Ted Putnam, Michael Reavie, Chez Reed, Patrick Rollins, John Sabbatini, Rory Senden, John Singh, Vijay Slocum, Heath Stanley, Kyle Steele, Brendan Streb, Robert Stroud, Chris Stuard, Brian Summerhays, Daniel Svoboda, Andrew Swafford, Hudson Teater, Josh Thomas, Justin Thompson, Nicholas Todd, Brendon Tringale, Cameron Tway, Kevin Van Aswegen, Tyrone Vegas, Jhonattan Verplank, Scott Villegas, Camilo Wagner, Johnson Walker, Jimmy Weir, Mike Wi, Charlie Williams, Chris Williams, Lee Woodland, Gary Yang,

FEATURED GROUPS FOR TOMORROW

Gary Woodland-Jonas Blixt-Billy Horschel (7:40 a.m., No. 10): This group features two players who qualified for the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola -- Woodland and Horschel -- with the defending champion. All three players won in 2013, as well. Woodland claimed the Reno-Tahoe Open, Blixt won The Greenbrier Classic and Horschel won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Sean O'Hair-Rocco Mediate-Trevor Immelman (8 a.m., No. 10): This group includes the 2010 champion, Rocco Mediate, with two of the higher-profile players to regain their TOUR cards via the Web.com Tour Finals. Mediate, 50, has won twice on the Champions Tour this season. Immelman is the 2008 Masters champion, while O'Hair is a four-time PGA TOUR winner.

Michael Putnam-John Peterson-Chesson Hadley (8:30 a.m., No. 10): This group features three of the most successful players from the 2013 Web.com Tour season. Michael Putnam was the Regular Season's leading money winner, while Peterson was the Web.com Tour Finals leading money winner after finishing in the top five in all four events. Both players earned spots in THE PLAYERS Championship with their accomplishments. Chesson Hadley won the Web.com Tour Championship and was the leading combined money winner in the Regular Season and Finals.

Marc Leishman-Angel Cabrera-Charles Howell III (12:20 p.m., No. 1): Two participants in last week's Presidents Cup, Marc Leishman and Angel Cabrera, are in this group along with Charles Howell III, who finished 11th in last year's Frys.com Open. Leishman and Cabrera both went 2-2-0 at Muirfield Village. They also both finished in the top five in this year's Masters, with Cabrera losing a playoff to Adam Scott.

Davis Love III-Mike Weir-Hideki Matsuyama (12:30 p.m., No. 1): Two major champions, Davis Love III and Mike Weir, are paired with 21-year-old Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, who played last week's Presidents Cup and is making his PGA TOUR debut as a member. Matusyama, No. 30 in the Official World Golf Ranking, earned TOUR membership by finishing in the top 25 in all six of his starts last season, including top-10s at the U.S. Open and The Open Championship.

[SloverUT]

I am liking Cabrera based on the field.  Should be a good opening tourney.  Amazing how Golf really never stops.

[mchepp]

I am going on Saturday. Should be a good tournament.

[Chron]

Anyone going to the Frys.com Open this year at CordeValle? I'll be there on Sunday!

[Crim]

I am going on Saturday. Should be a good tournament.

NICE! Let us know how it goes.

I am liking Cabrera based on the field.  Should be a good opening tourney.  Amazing how Golf really never stops.

From what I heard, this is one of the earliest if not THEE earliest a new season has ever started. I love it. I'm thinking someone from the first featured group will win it, but there's a lot of fantastic players that could win. I'm keeping a close eye on Matsuyama and Justin Thomas. Justin seemed like a major rival to Jordan Spieth during college. FRYS.com is his first pro event.

I'll also be keeping tabs on Cameron Beckman because he's a local here in the Twin Cities and should have won the playoff at Sanderson Farms against Woody Austin

[TJBam]

Mr. Huh takes it home.

[grubby98]

I guess nobody is following this tournament that much, not much comment on this thread.  What does everyone think about the new season starting already?

[David in FL]

I guess nobody is following this tournament that much, not much comment on this thread.  What does everyone think about the new season starting already?

What's not to love?!  It's golf, and I never really cared for the old "silly season" crap they used to put on this time of year.

[grubby98]

Same here with the silly season.  I love getting to watch some of the Web.com guys and getting used to them know that they are on the PGA tour.  Some of these tournaments should have big names next year or year after.  I think they had to agree to play in some if the PGA tour let them play in some big money game a year or so ago over seas.

[newtogolf]

For golf fans I think it's better that FedEx points are being awarded to attract a better field.  If I was on the web.com tour I'd be disappointed that the offering of FedEx points was attracting more Tour Players which leaves less openings for the web.com guys.

[MEfree]

For golf fans I think it's better that FedEx points are being awarded to attract a better field.  If I was on the web.com tour I'd be disappointed that the offering of FedEx points was attracting more Tour Players which leaves less openings for the web.com guys.

I would guess that last year, a lot of guys in this field were fighting to keep their tour cards, not necessarily "web.com" players.  Other than limited open qualifying and sponsors exemptions, there is really not a mechanism for web.com guys (with no PGA tour status) to play in PGA Tour events.  If there are not enough regular tour players interested in an event, then the remaining spots go to past tour winners (and other guys with limited PGA tour status), not web.com guys.  I wouldn't be opposed to having it done that way (and have posted before that there should be more of a cross-over mechanism), but that is not currently the way the Tour handles it.

This year, it seems as if most of the guys who just got their tour cards through the Web.com Final series are playing along with some 2013 tour players that are looking to get a jump start for 2014 (mainly guys who did not make it deep into the playoffs or failed to keep their card and have limited status for this season).

One of the more interesting stories is 2nd round leader Brooks Koepka.  He and Peter Uihlein are two young Americans ranked in the top 100 with full Euro Tour status but no PGA/Web.com status.  Koepka got paired with Tiger in the final round of the PGA this year and a high showing might help him earn enough to at least get into the Web.com Tour finals in 2014 to try for a PGA Tour card for 2015.  Of course, he could go the Jordan Spieth route with a win.

[PuttsLefty]

Hi folks. I just saw above where someone mentioned the new season. I'm new here and have a question. Is this tournament the first one for the new FedX cup year? Or is this some part of the new, post qualifying school, process. I have a cousin in the field, Ben Martin, and I must confess I haven't kept up with the changes.

[MEfree]

Originally Posted by PuttsLefty

Hi folks. I just saw above where someone mentioned the new season. I'm new here and have a question. Is this tournament the first one for the new FedX cup year? Or is this some part of the new, post qualifying school, process. I have a cousin in the field, Ben Martin, and I must confess I haven't kept up with the changes.

First event of the new (2013-14) season.  Here is the full schedule http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/schedule.html

2013 was the first season where the last event was the Tour Championship.  Previously, the playoffs ended, but the season continued with the Fall Series events counting towards $ list winner, top 125 and Player of the Year, etc..  The new schedule makes more sense with those all concluding with the end of the Fed Ex Cup race/TC/Playoffs.  Having the new season start so quickly might take some getting used to.

[mchepp]

I was there on Saturday. I was only able to stay for part of the day but the weather was perfect. I sat on the first hole and watched a bunch of guys tee off and then moved over to the 17th to see the guys try to drive the green. Ben Crane holed out with a wedge after laying up. Seems the guys laying up were out playing the guys going for it. The 17th is a good strategy discussion because many of the guys have the distance to drive it but the shape of the green and bunkering mean a lay up may be the more prudent play.

Next year the tournament moves to Silverado in Napa. I wonder about the attendance up there. Probably for the first year it will be good, but after that it may struggle a bit.

[PuttsLefty]

I was there on Saturday. I was only able to stay for part of the day but the weather was perfect. I sat on the first hole and watched a bunch of guys tee off and then moved over to the 17th to see the guys try to drive the green. Ben Crane holed out with a wedge after laying up. Seems the guys laying up were out playing the guys going for it. The 17th is a good strategy discussion because many of the guys have the distance to drive it but the shape of the green and bunkering mean a lay up may be the more prudent play.

Next year the tournament moves to Silverado in Napa. I wonder about the attendance up there. Probably for the first year it will be good, but after that it may struggle a bit.

From what I saw of the 17th watching on TV Saturday, A very good drive was rewarded because of the severe backstop. You couldn't really see the slope very well over the TV, but it must have been very steep as fast as a drive would stop and pick up speed rolling backwards.